No Thru Traffic

This is certainly not the first, and definitely won’t be the last, trip of this kind. Folks have been touring the country on motorcycles for ages. So naturally, you would assume that there would be a lot of useful information on the internet concerning touring, routes, bike setup, gear selection, etc. Unfortunately, most of what we found was a little out of date, or mostly worthless.

This site is not intended to be a ‘how to tour on your motorcycle’ site, but I’d figure that it could potentially serve that purpose some day. So I feel compelled to share the link that Ryan discovered called Motorcycle Touring for Beginners. It’s written by an awesome old crotchity guy named Dale Borgeson who has been touring on his sport bikes for years. It is a virtual treasure trove of useful information that pretty much covers anything you could want to know about motorcycle touring. Click through and read some of what he has, it’s written well and sprinkled with his unique viewpoints and can be funny at times.

So when deciding my own packing list, I used his as a guide and modified it to fit my own needs. I’ll post it here for future tourers should they stumble upon this site and wonder. I’m not taking all of this stuff, it was more of a brain dump than anything else, and it will be refined more over the next couple days leading up to the trip:

Clothes

• Sunglasses
• Long underwear
• North Face jacket
• Sweatshirt
• Swimsuit
• Socks
• Underwear
• T-shirts
• Flip-flops
• Hiking shoes
• Athletic shorts
• Warm hat
• Jeans
• Shorts

Riding Gear

• Helmet
• Extra Visor
• Gloves
• Jacket
• Boots
• Pants
• Ear Plugs
• Riding socks
• Rain Suit
• Hot weather gloves
• Anti-fog
• Camel back

Bike Equipment

• Saddle Bags
• Tank Bag
• Watch
• Windshield
• Bike Cover
• Powersource
• GPS
• Cigarette lighter
• Backpack
• Compass
• Camera mount
• Waterproof bag
• OEM tool kit
• Owner’s Manual
• Rags
• Tie wraps
• Duct tape
• Tire gauge
• Tire patch kit
• Wrench for oil change
• Disk lock
• Chain lube
• Rain-X
• Campground map
• Maps
• Ziplock bags
• Bungee Cords
• Cargo net
• Piece of wood for sidestand
• Lock for bike cover
• Cable lock
• Spare bike key

Camping Gear

• Tent
• Tarp
• Sleeping Bag
• Pad
• Pillow
• Chair
• Flashlight
• Lantern
• Pocket knife
• Lighter
• Stove
• Fuel
• Cookset
• Silverware
• Water Purifier
• Iodine Tablets
• Water Bottles
• Watter Bladder
• Scrubber pad
• Dish Soap
• Nylon bucket
• Waterproof matches
• Thermometer
• Garbage bags
• Nylon cord
• Can opener
• Collapsable cooler

Food

• Energy Bars
• Gatorade Mix
• Spices
• Oatmeal
• Peanut butter
• Jelly packets

Personal Hygiene

• Toilet kit bag
• Baby wipes
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Soap
• Shampoo
• Lip balm
• Sunscreen
• Washcloth
• Deoderant
• Towell
• Razor
• Laundry detergent
• Toilet paper
• Purrel

Personal Items

• Wallet
• Pens
• Notebook
• Book
• iPod
• Headphones
• Phone
• Alarm clock
• Cleaning cloth for glasses
• Extra batteries
• Camera
• Camera Batteries/charger
• Camera Case
• Mini tripod
• Laptop
• Absolut music speakers
• Insect repellent
• Wireless card
• Glue stick
• Markers/pens

First Aid Kit

• Bandages
• Neosporane
• Gauze
• Scissors